The present invention relates to an aircraft including a support deployable outside the fuselage in the vicinity of an emergency exit.
An emergency exit provided for evacuation of the cockpit of an aircraft includes an opening made in the fuselage of the aircraft and a closure panel that is removed from the opening in the event of an emergency evacuation. The closure panel is such that its exterior surface lines up with the exterior surface of the rest of the fuselage in order to reduce the impact on the aerodynamic characteristics.
The openings provided for the emergency exits are small so as not to weaken the structure of the aircraft too much.
In addition to the emergency exit, the aircraft includes a flexible element such as a rope or a flexible ladder, one end of which is fixed to the interior of the fuselage, and that is deployed outside the fuselage via the opening in the event of an emergency evacuation to enable persons to reach the ground.
These flexible elements are not practical to use.
For emergency exits located in the lower part of the fuselage, there is known from the document FR-2,979,898 a retractable rigid ladder that is deployed from the interior of the fuselage through the emergency exit opening. During deployment, the various rungs of the retractable ladder move in translation in the direction of the stiles of the ladder.
Even if this solution improves the ergonomics of the evacuation means, it is not suitable for emergency exits disposed in the upper part of the fuselage.
For such emergency exits, the persons have available only a rope or a flexible ladder. In practice, getting through the narrow emergency exit opening, while gripping the rope or the flexible ladder, proves to be the greatest problem, especially as the exterior surface of the fuselage around the opening is perfectly smooth for aerodynamic reasons and offers no grip.
The present invention aims to remedy the disadvantages of the prior art.